


Love is kind (but what kind of love?)

by darwinwithadifference



Series: ScarletWidow fics [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Family, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Mom Friend Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov Feels, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Protective Wanda Maximoff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 19:26:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19448008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darwinwithadifference/pseuds/darwinwithadifference
Summary: Nat and Wanda have a talk. They admit some things.





	Love is kind (but what kind of love?)

**Author's Note:**

> This won't really make much sense if you haven't read the first part

Natasha supposed that her frustration at not being allowed to do things for herself while she recovered was a product of being trained to push your body past any sensible limit. But it didn’t make her any less annoyed about it.

Or any less willing to sneak into the kitchen because _she wanted coffee, dammit,_ and she did not intend on waiting for any of the others to return from their training. Even if her vision consisted of blurred edges and bright spots and the sharp ache from her leg was making her feel a bit sick.

She set about making coffee, ignoring her body’s protests. She guessed the pain was what enabled Wanda to enter the kitchen without her noticing.

“Natasha.”

She turned around and pretended not to see the disapproving look on the younger woman’s face. “Want some coffee?”

“You know I don’t like coffee.” Wanda herded her gently towards a chair at the counter. “You also know you’re not supposed to be putting weight on your leg.”

Natasha rolled her eyes. “I walked a hundred metres at most.”

Wanda sighed. “You need to take care of yourself.”

“Why?” Natasha had no idea why she had spoken aloud. She’d never spoken about her issues to Wanda before; what was going on? Apparently fractured bones made her do stupid things.

“We’re not having this discussion until I have had a shower and some tea.” Wanda picked at the tank top she’d been training in and held up a finger when Natasha opened her mouth to protest. “We _are_ having this discussion.”

Once she’d gotten over the shock of Wanda actually giving her orders, Natasha agreed to let Wanda help her back to her room, with a reassurance that she’d be back in a little while.

_I’m so stupid. And so screwed._ Natasha settled onto her couch and stared moodily (and, she hoped, threateningly) out her window.

Wanda meant to spend the whole half hour it took her to shower, dress, and make tea figuring out what was going on with Nat. She gave up after five minutes; even after befriending the Black Widow, Wanda was never sure of her motives for anything.

As she braided her wet hair back and shrugged on a wooly cardigan, she started to think of a way to tell Natasha that she should take care of herself because seeing her in pain made Wanda hurt as well, and ended up with a realisation she really should have come to a while ago: Natasha had become one of the most important people in her life. Even if Wanda wasn’t quite sure of the nature of her feelings for Nat, she did love her. She was family.

Walking up to Natasha’s room with her mug of tea in hand, Wanda thought, _I can’t just go and give her a speech. She needs to feel safe and in control if we’re going to get anywhere, so I will listen to her and nothing else, if that’s what she needs._

She had clear intentions, which made her feel more confident. Until she walked into Natasha’s room, saw the redhead smile at her, and knew that she was going to try to tell her how she felt, even if she wasn’t exactly sure what that was.

“The stage is yours,” Natasha said, motioning for Wanda to sit next to her.

Wanda shook her head and sipped her tea. “No stages. I just want my friend to explain why she doesn’t care about her wellbeing.”

_Point to Wanda._ That comment had hit her as hard as any blow to the stomach, of which she had experienced many. “I was trained as a weapon. ‘I have no place in the world,’”, she said, quoting a much younger Natasha, who had then been Natalia. “You can’t care too much about getting hurt or dying when you’re trying to save the world.”

“What about when we’re not trying to save the world? Can you care about getting hurt then?” Wanda asked.

She shook her head. “I guess I don’t switch out of ‘Avenger mode’ very often.”

“Nat, if you can’t care about yourself for yourself, can you do it for me for now? I hate seeing you in pain.” She gave Natasha her wide-eyed innocent look. _The little witch knows that always works._

“I’ll try,” she agreed. “I’m not used to having someone who cares about me this much – Steve and Clint are both too scared to question me,” she said with a small smile.

Wanda nodded, satisfied. “Thank you. Natasha?”

Natasha raised her eyebrow, allowing her to continue.

“I’m not scared of you. I trust you.”

She should tell Wanda that that’s a bad idea; that she’s untrustworthy and scarred and fundamentally _not a good person_ , but the younger woman was looking right at her and offering her a hand. She’d seen inside Natasha’s head and still wanted to be close to her. Still wanted whatever broken memories of friendship the Black Widow had to give.

Natasha took her hand.

“Nat,” Wanda began, feeling her heart rate rise with the anticipation of what she was about to say.

Natasha turned her head to look at Wanda where she lay next to her on the former’s bed. Wanda had brought her book and they had been lying reading together for some time after Wanda had informed Natasha that since she clearly could not be trusted not to disobey medical orders, she was going to make sure that Natasha didn’t do anything stupid for the rest of the afternoon.

“Can I show you something? With my powers?” She asked, knowing that this probably wouldn’t work.

But her friend surprised her by nodding. “I trust you, Wanda.”

She smiled at the echoed words, then shut her eyes, summoned her crimson energy and pulled Natasha’s mind towards hers, hoping that she would understand.

She showed Natasha memories and thoughts, trying to slow them down so as not to overwhelm her. The memories she shared were ones of her with Nat – memories of feeling accepted, safe, and wanted. Thoughts that showed that she cared. Then she let go and opened her eyes. 

“I don’t know what kind of… of love I feel towards you. All I know is that it’s there,” she said, looking down at her hands. She could feel her cheeks going pink.

“Thank you for showing me.” Natasha nudged her with her uninjured knee. “I’m not quite sure how I love you yet, either.”

Wanda gave a laugh. “I’m relieved to have that out the way, but now what?”

Natasha shrugged and moved closer to Wanda, putting their heads right next to each other. “Asides from you explaining why the hell you want anything to do with me?”

The younger woman kicked her. She laughed. “Let’s just see what happens, little witch.”

What happened was the Avengers’ game night. Wanda was a little disappointed that Clint couldn’t join them, but she knew he was happy on his farm with his family, and that was more important.

Sam and Rhodey, winners of the previous round of poker, were grinning smugly. Steve was whispering to Vision – Wanda assumed he was trying to explain that deception was actually a good thing here – and Natasha had told Wanda to let her handle the next round.

“Wanda, do you even know how to play poker, or are you just following orders from your comrade?” Sam asked later, when Natasha and Wanda had beaten the (previously) cocky victors for two rounds in a row.

She shrugged. “With the way this game has been going, she seems to know what she’s doing.”

Natasha smirked. “Ready to admit defeat, Wilson?”

“He’ll admit defeat when someone else admits their feelings,” Steve chimed in, winking at Nat.

“I’ll do that once you admit that you’re the mom of this team,” she retorted. But she smiled at him; Steve was one of her best friends, after all.

Sam had been watching their exchange like a tennis match. “Some people have some explaining to do if I just heard correctly.”

Steve leaned back, eyes twinkling. Natasha suddenly wondered how Bucky had kept from giving him a good punch back in the forties.

She turned to Wanda, winked at her, and leaned in.

Wanda’s lips met hers, soft and hesitant. The only things keeping her from getting lost in the moment were the numerous whistles, shouts and confused yelling (Sam). She flipped them off, feeling Wanda giggle and return the kiss.


End file.
